The following summaries are drawn from briefs and lower court judgments.
They are meant to provide a general idea of facts and issues presented
in cases, and should not be considered official court documents. Facts
and issues presented in these summaries should be checked for accuracy
against records and briefs, available from the Court, which provide more
specific information.

Florida Supreme Court Oral
ArgumentsMonday, April 2, 2001Arrive early. Times &
order of appearance are tentative and subject to change with no notice.
Cases may be postponed due to exigent circumstances.

Ian Stuttard and his wife
Julia jointly rented an Alamo car. Later, Ian negligently drove the car,
causing an accident that killed Julia and injured one of the couple's children.
Toombs, the representative of Julia's estate, sued Alamo. Alamo moved to
dismiss on grounds her estate could not sue because she was a joint renter
of the car and her husband's negligence was imputed to her. The trial court
agreed, and the Fifth District Court affirmed.

The Woodside Condominium
Association was created in 1979. Jahren and Gary McLernan bought several
units each as investments, intending to rent them. Originally, units could
be rented on a year-to-year basis by non-owners. However, in later years
the renting rules were changed to forbid renting any unit for more than
nine months in any twelve-month period. The condominium president later
determined that Jahren and McLernan had violated this rule and demanded
that renters leave their units immediately. The Association sued but lost
in the trial court. On appeal, the Second District affirmed.

Mills is under an active
death warrant for the May 25, 1979, murder of James Wright and is scheduled
to be executed at 6 p.m. on May 2. He challenges the warrant.

Seminole County

Florida Supreme Court Oral
ArgumentsTuesday, April 3, 2001Arrive early. Times &
order of appearance are tentative and subject to change with no notice.
Cases may be postponed due to exigent circumstances.

Chavez was arrested and
charged with the September 11, 1995, kidnaping, molestation, and murder
of 9-year-old Jimmy Ryce. He was tried in Orlando, convicted, and sentenced
to death based on a jury recommendation of 12-to-0. This is his direct
appeal.

Ann & Robert Auman sued
a Georgia hospital over alleged negligent failure to diagnose hypothyroidism
in their newborn. Later the infant came under the care of Dr. Larry Walker
and another physician in Tallahassee. About 11 months later another physician
diagnosed the child's condition. The Auman's sued, eventually reaching
a settlement with the Georgia hospital's insurer, V.I.R. V.I.R. then sued
the two Tallahassee physicians asking that they pay a share of the settlement.
The trial court dismissed the complaint, but the First District Court reversed.

FMPA is a wholesale electricity
supplier owned by the municipalities it serves. It contended that a 1996
statute exempted municipally owned utilities like itself from paying sales
taxes when purchasing materials meant to repair, replace, or refurbish
its facilities. The Department of Revenue rejected this contention, but
the First District Court disagreed and certified the case to the Supreme
Court.

Leon County

Florida Supreme Court Oral
ArgumentsWednesday, April 4, 2001Arrive early. Times &
order of appearance are tentative and subject to change with no notice.
Cases may be postponed due to exigent circumstances.

In 1978 the Supreme Court
issued an opinion saying that deputy sheriff's have no right to engage
in collective bargaining. In intervening years, however, the Supreme Court
has issued other opinions that have been interpreted as reaching a contrary
result. Based on these new opinions, the Coastal PBA filed a petition with
the state asking to be certified as the bargaining agency for Brevard County
deputy sheriffs. The state accepted the petition, and Sheriff Williams
appealed. The First District denied his request but certified the case
to the Supreme Court.

Schnepel negligently shot
a gun manufactured by the Glock company, injuring Gouty. Prior to trial,
Gouty settled with Glock for $137,500, but Glock admitted no liability.
Schnepel admitted liability, but also contended that Glock was partially
at fault. At trial, the jury was asked to apportion liability between Schnepel
and Glock, and it found Schnepel 100 percent liable. It awarded total damages
of $250,000. Schnepel asked that this award at least be partially offset
by the Glock settlement, but the trial court refused. On appeal, the First
District Court reversed but certified the question to the Supreme Court.

Olive applied to join the
state registry of attorneys available to represent death row inmates in
the event the capital collateral representatives could not do so due to
conflict. In 1998 he was appointed to represent death-row inmate Anthony
Mungin. Maas then asked Olive to sign the state contract required by law
for all registry counsel. Olive refused on grounds it improperly restricted
the lawyer-client relationship. Later, he sued, challenging portions of
the registry counsel laws. The trial court rejected his claims, and the
First District Court certified the case to the Supreme Court.

Leon County

Florida Supreme Court Oral
ArgumentsThursday, April 5, 2001Arrive early. Times &
order of appearance are tentative and subject to change with no notice.
Cases may be postponed due to exigent circumstances.

Case

Time

Facts & Issues

Place of Origin

No cases scheduled

Florida Supreme Court Oral
ArgumentsFriday, April 6, 2001Arrive early. Times &
order of appearance are tentative and subject to change with no notice.
Cases may be postponed due to exigent circumstances.